Fantasy Football Today - Chiefs-Ravens Recap; Five Big Topics (09/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 20, 2021

What a great Sunday night game we had and we are pumped up to talk about it! We give our thoughts on Mark Andrews, Ty'Son Williams, the Marquise Brown breakout and of course the Chiefs offense as well. What to do with CEH? ... News and notes (16:50) and then we get into our Five Big Topics beginning with the TE position and George Kittle's value (24:00). Also, what the heck is going on with the Saints offense (31:15)? We give you the numbers to know and other possible explanations for their struggles ... What is Saquon Barkley's value right now (35:00)? Could Tony Pollard overtake Ezekiel Elliott (41:00)? And we'll tell you why you should buy low on A.J. Brown (44:40) ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Monday afternoon show here. Adam Azer with Chris Towers. Going to be joined by Jacob Gibbs with some advanced stats a little bit later in the show. You know how we do it on Monday afternoon. We talk about the big topics, but we give you kind of the nitty-gritty.

Some things that you don't get to hear, you know, on the full-length show on Sunday night. And Chris has some great stats. Jacob has some great stats for you. And yeah, we're going to break it down. We've got some injury updates as well. Afternoon there, Chris. Fun game last night. Very, very fun game for everyone except me who spent the offseason

and week one talking about how Clyde Edwards-Elair still has upside and that he's a good pick. And I look dumb. And I feel dumb, frankly, Adam. You shouldn't feel dumb. No, I mean... You don't look dumb.

No, he... The story's not over yet. It's two games. I think Darrell Williams getting the goal line carry that was just a knife in the heart. Yeah, and then no targets. Like I could deal with him fumbling the ball away or not running the ball well. But week one, there were reasons to like the role.

He ran a bunch of routes, got some targets. He didn't get any goal line touches, but on all their plays inside of the 10-yard line, he was on the field. Yeah. Yeah, tough game for him. That's how I feel now. Two fantasy points. 2.6. It's not what you want.

It's not. I agree with that. It's not what you want from Clyde Ebert-Ziller. And overall, the year two running backs have been either out for the season or disappointing. Well, DeAndre Swift's been the best. Jonathan Taylor has been all right.

DeAndre Swift hasn't had a chance to disappoint us yet. Yeah. Week one was great, but anything can happen. Yeah, but Gibson, I know people are frustrated with Gibson. Obviously, Akers and Dobbins are out for the year. And James Robinson got his opportunity again, and he's been bad. All right, so let's talk about this game. Baltimore 36, Kansas City 35.

Also coming up today, we are going to talk about the Saints offense, the tight end position, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and A.J. Brown. Those are our five big topics and what Matt Nagy said about his quarterback situation for the Chicago Bears as well. Patrick Mahomes, great game, 29 fantasy points, not as good as Lamar Jackson, who was a man on a mission, 33 fantasy

points in six points per passing touchdown leagues, 100 yards, 107 to be exact, and rushing. It was really fun to watch. He was very determined. But we don't have to talk about the quarterbacks here. I opened the week with Lamar Jackson

as my number one quarterback. And then I ended up dropping him to four because I let everyone get in my head about all the injuries. Well, he wasn't number one. I mean, he wasn't the number one quarterback. You were right to do it. Yeah.

What was he number three? He was probably number four, right? Probably something like that. Brady and Kyler outscored him. I. What was he number three? He was probably number four, right? Probably something like that. Brady and Kyler outscored him. I think he's probably number three right now. I don't know if anyone else outscored him. But yeah, see, you should have listened, and you did, and you did a better job.

Way to go. See, don't feel down. He is number three, yes. Just ahead of Daniel Jones, as we all predicted. They almost had the same amount of rushing yards. Yeah. Jones would have had more if not for the holding. Yeah, you're right.

He would have beaten. He would have been the top rushing quarterback. Let's talk about Clyde a little bit more. Clyde, Saquon Barkley, Antonio Gibson. Rank them. Clyde, Saquon Barkley, Antonio Gibson. Rest of season, I would go Saquon, Gibson, Clyde Saquon Barkley Antonio Gibson rest of season I would go Saquon Gibson Clyde I think they're all probably still in the top 16 to 18 rest of season I think Barkley probably closer to top 12 I think Gibson maybe a little lower than that and then Edwards behind them

I have more faith in Barkley than than the other two because I have more faith in Barkley than the other two because I have more faith in the role that he's playing and likely to play moving forward. In a PPR league, would you rather have Myles Gaskin? I believe he has nine catches in two games, or Clyde Edwards-Elair? Definitely Edwards-Elair. Okay.

I trust the role more. Who knows? Any concerns at all about tyreek hill three catches for 14 yards the fewest yards in a game that he did not leave with an injury since week 12 of the 2018 season i believe it's the fourth time in 69 games since the start of the 2017 season including the playoffs where he had six or fewer ppr points without leaving with an injury he's really really good no absolutely zero concerns there um week one was only one week ago and he had the most air yards in the nfl in that game i believe he was the was he the number one wide receiver in fantasy oh yeah yeah so i'm perfectly content with tyree kill no concerns whatsoever i should probably

double check that before i i'm pretty sure he was number two in ppr number one and non okay there we go that works for me um micole hardman sammy walkins we got to talk about marquise brown because he might be having a third year breakout here he's been really good so far um but Hardman is 59% rostered he had eight targets 55 catches for 55 yards he only had three targets in week one Sammy Watkins had seven targets he has 15 targets in two games he didn't do much with him in this game he had a drop as well uh if you saw both of them on waivers who would you pick up Hardman or Watkins and do you think that either of them needs to be picked up I think they're probably fine where they are um I would rather have Hardman but Watkins and do you think that either of them needs to be picked up I think they're probably fine where they are I would rather have Hardman but I don't feel particularly

strongly about that this is I mean we know like okay Mikko Hardman maybe he's the number two wide receiver but even that's not a hundred percent clear right. But he's definitely the third option. And it's very concentrated between Travis Kelsey and Tyreek Hill. So I just I, I think Hardman can be good. But I think the the path is fairly narrow for him to be really good. Like I think it's gonna have to be like a Deshaun Jackson type of season where he you know hits a few big plays he's you know boom or bust I think that's the path forward for him and nothing that we've seen so far should make you feel much more confident that that's going to happen I think yeah I'm honestly if you get eight targets from Patrick Mahomes I'd like to see you do more than five catches for 55

yards not that that's terrible but you know but Byron Pringle had a huge play and Demarcus Robinson had a huge play. Disappointing that Hardman didn't. A lot more to talk about with the Ravens. But when you look at their passing game, right, Lamar Jackson threw 26 times. And this is something that Andrews didn't have to deal with last year.

It was Andrews and Brown, two years in a row, Andrews and Brown getting like half the targets basically. And now Sammy Watkins gets eight targets and seven targets in two games. And Andrews is off to a slow start. You know, are you downgrading him at all? Or, you know, what's your, what are your thoughts on Mark Andrews right now who threw two games as eight catches for 77 yards on 10 targets. Yeah, I mean, he's actually running more routes than normal. He's run 62 routes through two games. Last season, I think he's been around 85-90% route share so far this season.

Last year, I believe he was between 65-70%. So you would expect that, okay, fine with Sammymy watkins here with marquise brown taking a step forward perhaps maybe he'll see fewer targets per route run but he's running more routes so you would think that that would even out over the long run and i think it will um you know maybe the path for him to be a you know break into the elite group isn't there if sammy watkins remains as big a part of the offense and if you know rashad bateman could be back within a couple of weeks and you know figures to be uh a big part of the offense first round pick this year um you know maybe he doesn't have that path but, it's hard to see him not being a top

six tight end. Like he's sixth in, uh, routes run right now. So I think that makes sense. Okay. So then Kyle Pitts or Mark Andrews, rest of season that I, I think I would still go Andrews, but I think it's really close, but it was close before. I'll ask you about Hawkinson after tonight, obviously, because, you know, all of our opinions are going to change.

And we'll finish with the running back. Well, Marquise Brown, all right, so you mentioned Rashad Bateman, right? Marquise Brown was only started in 13% of leagues. He had six catches, 113 yards, and a touchdown. He just looks really good, really comfortable out there. And maybe he's putting it all together. And he finished pretty strong too.

But do you think he can continue to be a must-start guy? I mean, so far he's performed like a must-start guy. When Bateman comes back, I'm not really that concerned about it. I don't know. I feel like this could just end up being one of the best values. He was not even a top 100 pick. He was hurt in the preseason. Yeah, and did's, you know,

did he leave this game at some point for a couple of snaps? I can't remember, but I don't know. He had the ankle injury coming off of week one was what it was, but he looked great yesterday. You know, this was the thing that was frustrating about Brown last season is early on in the season,

he was getting a ton of targets. He had like a 25% target share. He was being used like a number one wide receiver he was getting a bunch of downfield throws it was a really valuable role and he just wasn't hitting him and Lamar Jackson just couldn't get on the same page we saw in the second half of the season and then in the postseason I think the final eight games Marquise Brown was on pace for over a thousand yards and like nine touchdowns so this is mostly just continuing what we saw in the second half, but it's also a continuation of the role that he had carved out in the beginning

of last season that he just wasn't turning into production. So I think there's a lot to like here, 188 air yards through two games is pretty solid, uh, 12 air yards per target. I think that actually might be lower than it was last season. Um, I don't, I don't think I would use the term must start, but I think he's probably, I haven't done my week three rankings yet, but I would imagine he's going to be in the top 36. But this is something that Dave Richard talked about during the preseason,

that the last eight games of the season, which were very good for Marquise Brown, you know, pretty touchdown heavy. It's not like he had a ton of yards that kind of is a product of the Ravens offense a little bit, but a dot went down okay so he wasn't just this downfield threat like he was they were not connecting as you mentioned the first half of the season well so far through two games eight yards and 8.1 that's his a dot and two games in 2021 so that has continued and that's probably a good thing I know everybody likes air yards but it worked out better last year when he

was being targeted on shorter routes and I guess that's what's happening here as well and they are taking some deep shots with him too yeah i think that's the key is that it's a lot harder to be a consistent fantasy contributor if everything's downfield if it's all 25 yard targets because those are inherently low percentage targets you're talking you know on a 20 plus yard down the field pass, probably a completion percentage around 40% most of the time. And so it's frustrating when you have just that kind of role. But when you start to mix in some of the shorter and intermediate routes, that's when you start talking about a guy being used like a legitimate number one wide receiver.

That's the difference for me between like DJ Moore last year and DJ Moore this year as well. Yeah, so it's good stuff for Marquise Brown and he's 82% rostered. So if he's available, that should be closer to 100%, I think at this point. Finally, we got to get Jacob Gibbs on the show here. So before we do that, talk to me about Tyson Williams and Latavius Murray. Devontae Freeman only had two carries, but Tyson had 13 carries for 77 yards. He had two catches.

He also fumbled. It ended up being a touchdown for the Ravens. He fumbled just short of the goal line. They recovered and scored. Latavius had a rushing touchdown. That's two in two games. It's so obvious who the better runner is here. You know, I mean. I like Tyson Williams.

I just hope that they stick with him. He fumbled on his... It wasn't the first drive of the game because they threw the pick six, but right after that, he fumbled, and they stuck with him. Yeah, I think the thing is it's going to be a timeshare either way. Devontae Freeman played 10 snaps,

which is actually more than I expected. Latavius was at 25. Tyson was at 32. So, if Freeman's going to be a part of it, it's going to be even more muddled. But even if it's just Tyson and Latavius, Tyson was on the field for 19 rushes. Latavius Murray was on the field for 17.

But look at how well he's played. No, no, I know. He's looked better. I mean, he's going to play well on this offense. Think about how good J.K. Dobbins looked last season. He was amazing down the stretch. But he was a better, but he is. I mean, he's going to play well on this. Right. But think about how good JK Dobbins looked last season. He was amazing down the stretch. He was, he was a great, he was a must start fantasy option.

I mean, I think, right, right, right. But only, but he wasn't going to score 20 touchdowns again or whatever he was on pace for.

But what I'm saying is that even with how good JK Dobbins looked last season down the stretch in the playoffs, I think he only had like five more carries in the, in the two games. Then Gus, but this team wants to use multiple runs, but who cares? stretch. In the playoffs, I think he only had like five more carries in the two games than Gus Edwards did. This team wants to use multiple running backs. But who cares? He's still getting a good player out of it, number one. And number two,

Latavius Murray is not Gus Edwards. I mean, if Tyson Williams can clean up the mistakes, then he could blow away Latavius Murray. They're still going to use... Yeah, they're going to run the ball a ton. They're going to use two running backs. But I actually think that you should be more enthused about... He's got five catches on the year. They're going to run the ball a ton. They're going to use two running backs. But I actually think that you should be more, more enthused about it.

He's got five catches on the year. They're throwing him out of the backfield and he's good. I mean, I think he's proving himself right now. It's only two games, but he's better than Latavius Murray. So I don't disagree that he's better than Latavius Murray. And I don't disagree that he should be the lead back moving forward.

I think based on merit, based on what they're likely to do, what they've shown so far, Tyson Williams is a lead back. What I'm saying is that there is a limit to how many carries he's likely to get in any given game. And I think it's probably around 15.

We certainly know that. He's going to have a limit. But he gets 15 carries a game. I mean, this guy is going to be started. It's tough right now to find running backs that you trust. Running back already is a pain in the ass. And people are frustrated.

But next week, I'm probably going to start him over Clyde Edwards-Elair. Clyde Edwards-Elair has the Chargers, and he's at Detroit. I'm going to start Tyson Williams over Clyde Edwards-Elair. I think that makes sense.

I think he's going to be in the RB2 range, probably the lower end with Damian Harris, and if you want to throw Clyde Edwards-Elair after a couple bad games, I think he's going to be in the RB to range, you know, probably the lower end with Damian Harris. And if you want to throw Clyde Edwards, you learn after a couple of bad games. I think that makes sense. I think that's the range that there, that he's likely to be in moving forward.

I just, but for me, it's just harder to see a path to much more than that consistently. Oh, that's fine. Yeah, but that's fine. Don't get greedy.

Don't get greedy. We didn't know who this guy was. If Elijah Mitchell's going to be healthy, he'll be in that range. I think Melvin Gordon and Javante Williams are in that range. I think James Robinson is probably in that range. So, yeah, I think he's in that RB2 discussion.

And you're just, it's going to come down to if he can score a touchdown, he'll get to 15 points. If not, he'll probably be around seven to nine. I think that's going to be where he's at. Some news and notes. But first, Chris, tell us how to get your newsletter. CBSsports.com slash newsletters slash fantasy football today if you want to be really specific.

But if you just go to the newsletters page, it be right there it is uh i think pretty good it is very good i put a lot of work into it i've already gotten the i haven't really seen you late a lot lately from my wife and it's mostly because of the newsletter so that's the amount of work i'm putting into it it's delivered into your inbox every morning. Well, except for Saturday mornings, but every other morning plus Wednesday night and Sunday night. And the idea is just that it's everything you need to win your fantasy league.

All the news, all the notes, all the stats you need to know. And plus all the great work from Adam and Jamie and Dave and Heath and everybody else on the team delivered right into your inbox. So CBS sports.com slash newsletters. Yeah.

Subscribe. Go get it. All right. Carson Wentz sprained both of his ankles. Andy Dalton. I don't think he's going to be playing this week, but he may have avoided a serious knee injury. And Matt Nagy said he is the starter when healthy. Well, it is worth clarifying that Matt Nagy has been a tremendous weirdo about this whole thing

because when he did his press conference, he said he would not reveal who is going to be the starter based on scheme was the quote. Someone asked him, well, that's not a scheme thing. He said it 100% is. Later on, after he left the room, a Bears PR person came into the room and said, Andy Dalton is the starter

if he's healthy. I don't know why Matt Nagy doesn't want to say that. I don't know, man. Well, look, I think he's justified in having that stance. Fields didn't quite look ready. But those are not ideal circumstances.

If you're the starter, you get the first team reps. You don't have to come in mid-game. And you have a game plan going into the game. It's hard to trust. It's hard to know what to make of a situation when a guy comes in midway through the game. He's going to turn the ball over, though. I feel pretty confident in that. He's going to run the ball a ton. He's going to turn the ball over, though. I feel pretty confident in that.

He's going to run the ball a ton. He's going to turn the ball over a ton, and we'll see what Fields can turn it into. But obviously, he's 78% rostered. That's going to go up. They're at Cleveland, then they have Detroit at Las Vegas. All right. Will Fuller, good to see back with the team today.

Hopefully, he gets out there this week at Las Vegas. Tua Tungavailoa might not, though. He's got no structural damage. It doesn't appear to be a season-ender or a long-term thing or anything. It's a pain-tolerance thing for Tua with those ribs. Hopefully he can get back out there. Some issues in Pittsburgh. They stink right now, even though they're 1-1.

Their defense is extremely beat up. Their offense has been really bad. And Ben Roethlisberger, he not-so-subtly basically said he wants to run more no huddle well maybe I'm putting words in his mouth but he's not happy with Matt Canada's offense seemed to want more no huddle and that's what they did in the second half of that first game against the Bills you know they they kind of went away from Matt Canada's you know motion heavy offense and you know basically we're just running nothing but RPOs

down the stretch against the Bills. From what I was reading, it seemed like Ben just kind of took over and said that's what they were doing. I don't think the issue is Matt Canada. I don't think the issue is that they're not running no huddle. I don't think the issue is the formations or the motion or the playmakers. I think the issue is the formations or the motion or the playmakers. I think the issue is Ben Roethlisberger.

Well, and the line is horrible by all accounts. So that's not my eyes telling me that. That's everything I've read from all the people that cover the Steelers. The line is a huge problem, which isn't a big surprise. Deshaun Watson is not going to be active this week. Jarvis Landry, this

man never gets hurt. He's going to miss a few weeks most likely with a sprained this week. Jarvis Landry, this man never gets hurt. He's going to miss a few weeks, most likely, with a sprained MCL. Deontay Johnson, hopefully can play this week. He got lucky. He may have avoided, well, he definitely avoided a long-term injury, but we'll see if he can get on the field this week for the Bengals. Hurt his knee on the last play of the game. Looks like Leviscus Chenault is going to be able to play this week.

Defensive stuff, I already told you, Pittsburgh's defense is really beat up. But Baltimore's, they're not in such hot shape right now either. Deshaun Elliott starting safety and nose tackle Brandon Williams. They left with injuries. Jacksonville tight end James O'Shaughnessy. I think he's out for the season, right? It's a long-term injury.

I don't think it's 100% out for the season, but yeah, high ankle sprain. Denver's got a lot of defensive injuries, too. I think they have the Jets this week, so that's fine, but Bradley Chubb is hurt, linebacker Josie Jewell, cornerback Ronald Darby, he didn't play this week, so they're not

even close to fully healthy. And Teddy Bridgewater became the fourth player in NFL history to open a season with consecutive games with two touchdown passes, no interceptions, and completing 75% of his passes. The other three were Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Jeff George. That is from the AP.

That is good stuff. And Kyle Juszczyk left with an injury, too. So we got to see if the 49ers' backfield has anyone healthy, but Juszczyk is so good blocking. Carryon Johnson is a name to know, absolutely. This pissed me off. This is also from the AP recap of the games. A large group of 49ers fans

attempted to take over the Rocky statue at the Philadelphia Art Museum on Saturday night. They raced up the steps, waved Niners banners, and tried to place a banner on Sylvester Stallone's bronze likeness. And you're mad about this? First of all, I'm an Eagles fan this year.

We all know that. Secondly, I am a huge... Long-time Eagles fan. Rocky fan. You don't mess with the Rocky statue. I don't care what town you're from. Unless you're Russian and you were rooting for Drago, you don't mess with the Rocky statue.

That is sacred. That is sacred. That is BS. You do not do that. It's pretty silly that they have a statue of a fictional character. It is. It is. It's like Ben Franklin and Rocky. Yeah, that's a good point.

But still, what would New York's fictional... There could be so many. I mean, I guess there's the bull. I mean, there's like a thousand statues in New York. Yeah, but who would be the fictional New York hero? The Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. Oh, no, it would be the Ghostbusters. It would have a statue of the Ghostbusters.

Yeah. All right, when we come back, we're going to get to our five big topics. I told Jacob Gibbs to join at 2.15. It's 2.30. So he's been sitting there waiting patiently. But he's coming on right now. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.

Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit ontarioonecall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. There's Jacob Gibbs. He's just chilling.

King Gibbs. What's up, man? Not much. Still on bed rest with this crazy injury day to day for me for now. Yeah, we never talked about that. We never talked about that. What happened? Tell everybody what happened.

So I think I had a trauma like injury quite a while ago is our guess. Um, and it fractured the L5 vertebrae, um, which is basically the, the bottom most one before the coccyx. It just kind of stacks all the other ones on top of it. And I think that's been causing me problems for a while. I think the main takeaway here is to listen to your body, honestly, you know, cause I think I've known that I had bad problems for a while, but I didn't it was so serious um and then it got to a point i never even got an x-ray or anything and then we got to a point where the pain was just like really out of control all

of a sudden and i go in and my spine is like shifted halfway across my body like none of it made any sense how how bad it got so quickly but they're like did you know that your vertebrae is broken i'm like what no i didn't know that i'm 27 yeah hot hot tip for some of the younger listeners out here your back just it just hurts once you hit i mean you're a little you're a little younger i was gonna say like 30 i just started getting like just back back soreness back stuff all the time now um that's that's wild though it's brutal yeah just larry birdman my back just straight gave up on me oh man i'm so sorry to hear that so how do you recover from a three point competition how do you recover from uh a fractured vertebra? Physical therapy, for sure. My chiropractor has been great.

That's gone really well. I know a lot of people are leery to do chiropractic, but I don't think that that's... I think that's pretty much unfounded. And then just a lot of rest and relaxing, honestly. I think that's a big thing, too, is if you're stressed out, that makes it even worse because your muscles are so tight.

Well, good thing it's football season. No yeah i know no stress this time of year right really all right well look i'm glad you're back on we were supposed to have you on last week you're supposed to be on fft and five we haven't heard from jacob we did read his tweet about courtland sutton yesterday so that's good oh nice but it's good to have you on and uh you are very relaxed like making me kind of want to take a little nap just chilling over there yeah just chilling in the bed gotta get back feeling good all right let's go it's been too long let's go to our five big topics colin has our first one if you don't have any of the top 10 tight ends by the way i think 10 is a little bit too many here. What do you do? Gasicki and Komet got me a whole half a fantasy point

through two weeks. And then we had a related one about George Kittle. Is George Kittle from Joe still to be considered a top three fantasy tight end? Slow start for George Kittle. So, Chris, why don't you address the what do you do if you don't have a top... I mean, I think it's got to be top six tight end.

Yeah, what do you... Yeah, I think if you have... What? Okay, Waller, Kelsey, Pitts... Andrews, Hawkinson. Andrews, Kelsey, or Thomas... No, Hawkinson. Hawkinson. I think you can throw Thomas in there.

You do? He's had two bad games and his quarterback's hurt. I think you could throw Gronkowski in there now. Oh, yeah. He's fifth at the position in routes run. Yeah. I think Fant's going to be pretty reliable personally while Judy's out. I don't know how you feel.

If I had Noah Fant, I wouldn't be panicking about tight end. I wouldn't be panicking. to be pretty reliable personally while while judy's out i don't know how you feel if i had no offense i wouldn't be panicking about tight end i wouldn't be panicking i i wish that the the usage was better with judy out um you know what do you get four targets yesterday four six targets four four receptions yeah it was like an 18 target share i think he'll probably be around there moving forward look this is we knew this coming in like tight end is never good there are always at most six to eight maybe ten who are somewhat reliable and then you're looking at i mean if you look at the leaders and routes run at the position right now, it's Waller, Pitts, Thomas, Kelsey, Gronkowski, Andrews. That's pretty much your

top six minus Kittle. And Hawkinson's only played one game. And Hawkinson's only played one game. I think you go try to trade for Mark Andrews right now. Or George Kittle. I think it's a good idea. Or George Kittle, yeah. You've got Jared Cook is sixth. Jack Doyle is seventh.

Noah Fant is ninth, and Tyler Conklin is tenth. Jacob, do you think George Kittle is still a top three tight end? No, actually, by the time the season had started, I'd moved Kittle down to five, which probably sounds crazy, given where most people had him. But I definitely preferred the target projection, route run projection for both Andrews and Hawkinson. And then what we've seen from Kittle so far

has really been pretty discouraging. In 2019 and 20, he stayed in the block on just 15% of his passing plays, which has doubled through two games. It was down in week two compared to week one. So that's good, but still, overall overall that's pretty troubling that they're using as a blocker so much you really need him running routes and then he's just not being targeted as often and also his average death of target is down to 2.4 yards yeah games which he's kind of playing the debo samuel role

it's been really bizarre the way they're using him and like i already like i said was higher on hogginson and those guys just feel way more secure in the role so no i don't think he's anywhere near top three tight end and also a name you guys didn't mention i think tyler higby is the answer to the first question i would just try to get you might be someone might drop him after last week and if not you could probably get him in a trade super cheap um and like he's not high on total routes because la has been pretty run heavy but um in terms of route involvement he's like one of the best tight ends in the nfl um so i feel pretty secure in his role and he's been someone who's been higby has been someone who's drawn

targets at high rate historically um and so i would expect him to have much better fantasy days ahead okay i still think you could buy low on Kittle, but that's an interesting take on him. Maybe you don't value him quite as highly as we did to start the season, but it is. Yeah. I look, the good news is if you have a bad tight end, half your league has a bad tight end.

The bad news is if you face one of those teams that has Kelsey or Waller, you know, you're in a lot of trouble. You're in a lot of trouble. I'll say on Kittle. I just don't know if I buy the Debo Samuel is just this complete alpha number one wide receiver who's going to get, I think he's at 33% target share through two games. I just, I have a problem seeing, I have trouble seeing that being the case moving forward. Everything we've seen from Kittle, you know, in 2019 when Debo was a rookie, in 2020 when he was playing in and out with both Debo and Iuke but

anytime he was on the field he was the number one guy he was like a 23 to 25 percent target share guy and so I'm just not sure I'm buying Debo Samuel as the new number one in that offense and I think that'll correct eventually and I think you know Kittle, he has 22 air yards on nine targets. They're using him a lot, almost exclusively when they target him. It's been on short screens or design plays to get him out with blockers. He's great with the ball in his hands. But I think he's going to start making a handful of plays down the field as well. Big topic number two from Ariella Lester.

What's your take on the Saints offense rest of season? And let me just give a little bit of color here. They have run the fewest plays in the NFL other than Green Bay and Detroit who play tonight. The good news is they are 30th in yards per play. Okay. But they have run the fewest plays in the NFL. They've thrown...

Detroit in one game has thrown more passes than the Saints plays in the NFL. They've thrown... Detroit, in one game, has thrown more passes than the Saints have in two games. The only team that's thrown fewer passes, 43 passes thrown in two games, is Green Bay, and they play tonight. They have an injured offensive line, unfortunately.

Their star center has been out. I think they had another, maybe another injury on the line this past week. And then they had half their coaching staff had COVID. So I guess you could understand a little bit of a crappy showing against Carolina.

And they've also been displaced, by the way. So they've had a lot to deal with in this early going. But, Jacob, what faith do you have in the Saints' offense rest of the season? I was worried about the Saints' offense because they've always been really low in terms of play volume. But they've been fine because Breeze is so efficient.

And I don't know if I expect that from Jameis necessarily, especially with Michael Thomas out. But it can't be as bad as it's been so far. The only thing I really had to add is I do have some notes on Alan Kamara that are interesting. He had an 84% snap rate last week, which was higher than any single season or any single game mark last year. He's only reached 84% twice in his career. He also had 67% of the carries on the year, and he's never been above 50% or 57% in a season.

And then he also is running a route on 77% of New Orleans dropbacks, which is a career high. He's never been above 65% of the season. The last one is particularly interesting to me because he has drawn targets at a higher per route rate than any running back basically ever, like significantly higher than Christian McCaffrey, higher than Austin Eckler. He just hasn't run nearly as many routes as those guys for whatever reason. New Orleans has split the looking back pretty surprisingly evenly um and if he's going to run 75 80 percent of the routes if the play

volume is any better and they start to you know be any more efficient offensively then he really could put up some crazy receiving numbers um yeah he said i think he's at a 24 percent target share through the first two games as well uh juwan johnson adam troutman and marquez calloway are all at 13.9 so uh camara has been the clear number one option part of that is probably that jamis winston has been pressured at the second highest rate among all quarterbacks so far this season um they're doing there's just there's not much going right for them. In week one, obviously, that was probably less true because they were so efficient turning the few plays that they had into touchdowns. But you can't count on that moving forward, as we saw in week two. I will say, Jameis, in his career, has been a very efficient passer

as long as you don't look at turnovers but on a per pass attempt basis at least he has moved the ball really really well uh he's got a career 7.7 yards per target 4.8 touchdown rate both of those are above average the yards per attempt especially is you know pretty close to elite and so i I have to think, like Jacob said, things are going to get better. But I don't think you can trust anyone but Kamara. Oh, for sure. And at New England next week, it might not get much better.

I mean, Jameis was talking about how it was really loud in Carolina and they were having trouble communicating and he needs to speak louder. But I just think the offensive line injuries, the lack of coaching, Jameis is still new. They don't have good players on offense anymore. They're not throwing to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin here. The offensive line is struggling.

They weren't getting the protections right. Sean Payton was talking about that. They've got some things to figure out. It's a slow start, but Kamara is the one I think we're not really worried about, but a little concerning here. Wouldn't be surprised if Taysom Hill got a chance soon. All right, from Luis. Saquon Barkley, is he worth trading for?

Is he too risky? Is the price still too high on Saquon Barkley? Just keep in mind, everybody, the Giants don't have a good offensive line, but they just lost arguably their best lineman for the season, and Nick Gates, I don't know that he was so great, but they just lost arguably their best lineman for the season in Nick Gates. I don't know that he was so great, but he was something. Anyway, Jacob, what would you, how would you value Saquon Barkley right now? So the one encouraging data point was he played

a ton of snaps last week. It was up above 80%. That's obviously exciting, but i was very bearish on saquon coming to the year i think i had him at like running back 18 or something um i just it's a it's a complex case that we've that i've made during the offseason basically daniel jones doesn't throw to running backs that hasn't changed so far through two games and for saquon to have the type of upside that he needs to you know justify the perception that he has in fantasy he is going to have to score a ton of touchdowns or have a ton of big plays given the perception that he has in fantasy, he is going to have to score a ton of touchdowns or have a ton of big plays, given the volume that he has, and a low-scoring offense.

So I'm still really low on Saquon. Nothing we've seen so far has changed that, though, necessarily. It's been about what I expected. Does that make sense? Yeah. I think he's going to be fine. I just don't think he's going to be the guy that people remember. No, he won't be amazing.

He won't be amazing. I don't see it. I will say, like— I think he'll be start-worthy. I think he's going to be better than RB18. You know, Chris, you ranked the three running backs exactly the way I would have. Barkley, Gibson, Clyde Edwards, Ziller. But most people, when I did the Twitter poll, like 62% had Gibson ahead of Barkley. Jamie had Gibson ahead of Barkley, Gibson, Clyde Edwards-Elair. But most people, when I did the Twitter poll, like 62% had Gibson ahead of Barkley.

Jamie had Gibson ahead of Barkley. And I was just surprised by that because I think their touches are going to be pretty similar. So why would people take Antonio Gibson over Saquon Barkley? I don't know. I'm confident in his touches. I will say that. I think he's going to have a good time.

Yeah, and there aren't, I don't think, going to be a lot of game plans or game scripts where Barkley gets phased out in the same way that Antonio Gibson did last week. Gibson, he's played one third down snap so far. No, no, sorry. Sorry, he's played one snap in a two-minute offense through two games per PFF.

JD McKissick, I think it's 22 out of 23 out of 23 so i think there are situations where antonio gibson can get game scripted out whereas i don't think the same as saquon for is true for saquon barkley the point about daniel jones not targeting running backs as often is a relevant one although i think it's going to be better than it has been like i think i mean look at see if i can find it but i believe the last two seasons the games that daniel jones had started barkley was on pace for it was like closer to 75 to 80 targets rather than over 100 like he got in that eli manning season so you know i think you can say yes saquon's not going to get the same target load that he got in that one huge breakout season that we all remember,

but I think it will be better than what it currently is, which is a, what, 45 target pace for the full season? 48? I guess 51 since it's 17 games now. I still have to get used to that. One thing I do agree with Jacob on, though, is he's going to have to score touchdowns to be a must-start guy. I kind of think he will.

I know they're not going to have a good offense, but Daniel Jones just doesn't throw touchdowns. And Barkley, he's just their guy. So I just feel like they're going to give him the ball. I just think it's the same case we made for Gibson, not to get stuck on the Gibson versus Barkley thing, but I think they are force-feeding him. His target per run is like 28% or something.

It's like double Barkleys, and they're giving the ball as often as they can, just like they are Barkley. That's basically the same case we made for Barkley exists for Gibson, and he's been more efficient as a rusher and receiver through his career and played in better offense, I think. What I would add is the 14 games saquon barkley has played with daniel jones he's averaged 5.1 targets per game which is lower than it was with eli manning it was 7.2 uh in the other 19 games in his career but still 5.14 targets per game over the course of 17-game season would be 87. That's per the Rotovis game splits tool.

And so I just don't think, unless Washington completely changes the way their offense runs and the way they view both Gibson and McKissick, which I don't think is likely, I just don't think there's a path for Gibson to get that kind of passing game work. And I think they're probably pretty similar in the running game. I guess if you want to give Gibson an edge in the running game,

I think that makes sense. But even still, I think there could be like a 25 to 30 target difference between the two of them by the end of the season. Yeah, and this is based for me on not giving Gibson the edge in the running game because I don't think he's that good of a runner. Not yet, anyway. As I say every show, he keeps saying that he hasn't figured it all out yet.

He's still learning. Barkley, you drafted Barkley because people still think he's an incredible player. And yeah, there are going to be a lot of short runs. That's just who he is. But there are also going to be a lot of, you know, 25, 30, 41-yard run last week, or 42, whatever it was.

So I think that once he gets going and gets into a rhythm and they give him the ball enough, he's going to pop big plays. I think he's going to be a better rusher than Antonio Gibson. If he can't be, then he's going to be pretty disappointing for you. He has to be, he has to be a great player. He has to score touchdowns. That's what you're banking on. But I do think the offense is going to be bad enough that, you know, he can't, he can't be a top five overall player again.

All right, let's go to Sam Moore's question. Is Tony Pollard the best Cowboys running back, and will the coaching staff give him a fantasy-relevant role even if Zeke is healthy? Chris, first word. I think he's got a fantasy-relevant role with Zeke healthy. That's what we've seen so far in the two games.

They pretty much had to abandon the run in the first game in a way that I think made a lot of sense, as far as their game plan went, they just knew they were going to have to keep up with Tampa and they weren't going to be able to do that by running against them. Uh, but in week two, we saw, um, what I think is a more typical game plan and Paula got 13 carries and what four targets, three targets, 140 yards. Is he a better running back than Ezekiel Elliott I think like it doesn't matter in my opinion because I don't think the Cowboys view him that way I don't think there's a realistic path to Tony Pollard becoming the number one running back for the

Cowboys I think he played about one-third of the snaps yesterday was about the same maybe actually lower in week one and I think that's probably going to be the case. But clearly they want the ball in his hands. Clearly they want to get him involved. We saw that early in the game against Tampa Bay when they manufactured, I think, five touches in the first half before they kind of got away from him. And we saw that in this game. Tony Pollard is going to have a role,

and maybe that caps Ezekiel Elliott's upside. Maybe it makes him less likely to be a top five back like we hoped, but regardless, he's going to have a role. I don't think he's going to become the number one option if Ezekiel Elliott's healthy. I think they like too much of what he does outside of the big plays. Tony Pollard's clearly a more explosive player, but Ezekiel Elliott's a really good pass blocker. They really trust him in short yardage and running the ball inside situations. So I think that's still going to be the case, but Pollard will be relevant in a maybe slightly different

than Naheem Hines, but that kind of way where he can be a flex. What do you think? I pretty much agree with everything you said. I think we've basically seen the best of Pollard in terms of the production he could possibly offer with the role he's playing and so it might be someone to sell if you want or if you can um and i do think it hurts zeke a little bit i mean and then in terms of is he better than zeke i don't know if it matters really because like he said like they're

so invested in zeke he's gonna be the guy but pollard has been more efficient than him basically every way over the past few years so So the numbers say, yes, he has better than Zeke. Don't know if it matters at all, though. Right. Okay. And it's funny, you know, 16 carries, two catches, 97 total yards and a touchdown. And people are down on Ezekiel Elliott after that performance.

But think about all the running backs we've talked about. Zeke, you're going to start him every week. I mean, this is plays the box again, this is kind of what we do though. Like if you've been in the league for more than three years and you have a running back who has one good run, fantasy Twitter is going to be like,

give the backup more carries. That's just what we do. We get so bored with running back. And I get it. Right. There's more than that with Zeke. He hasn't looked great, but when it comes to fantasy,

what you have to keep in mind is what we want doesn't matter. And the Cowboys have given zero reason to believe that they think Tony Pollard is even at nearly as good as Ezekiel Elliott as an overall player. And so...

They're giving him the biggest role he's ever had, and they've never done this to Ezekiel Elliott. They've never done this. That's a different question though. Cause it's a question. I know we're not, nobody disagrees with what you said versus nobody disagrees with what you

said. I think there are a lot of people in the, who play fantasy football and who analyze fantasy football, who would very much like to see Tony Pollard take over for Ezekiel. I, you cannot let that influence your decision-making though. Right. Okay.

You have to go with what the Cowboys actually do. And they've never given any reason to believe Elliott's going to see a significant reduction in workload. Just don't fumble, Zeke, like last year. All right, Dominic, last question here, last topic. Is A.J. Brown already looking like a bust at his ADP, especially with his recent drops? Gibbs, what do you think?

A.J. Brown. I think think? A.J. Brown. I think go buy A.J. Brown, people. I mean, if we're even getting a question like this, that means you need to go send a trade for A.J. Brown in your league because A.J. Brown's a freaking stud. And it's crazy that people are overreacting after two weeks. When we have two years of data that point towards him as being like one of the most efficient young receivers

to ever play football. There's reasons to be concerned about Tennessee's offense. The Titans are using play action like significantly less often than we've seen in the past, and that really boosts passing efficiency. So to see them not using it as often is not ideal when, you know, a new play calling in place. And then also A.J. Brown is running deeper routes and his ADOT is way up, which could just be a product of the fact that they've been playing from

behind. But either way, I was hoping to see him use more of the short and intermediate areas of the field. They moved him in that direction last year, and I was hoping we'd continue to see that and continue to see his target per hour run rate rise as a result. But his target per hour run rate is actually down from 26% last year to 21.5

this year. But overall, I mean mean i'm not concerned about him he's playing more in this slot which i'm excited for i hope we continue to see that but there's not much in his data profile that's a red flag at this point i've been surprised at how spread out their targets have been that's the one thing i thought tennessee was going to be even more concentrated with the addition of julio jones and it was just going to be like 50% of their targets going to the two those two guys it's been right around 42 to 44% so far in the first two games but no I think there's plenty of room for both of these guys to find success the Titans have been in weird situations like you said they've been trailing

which has forced them to get out of their 12 personnel sets that they like to run more. They've been running more three wide receiver sets. That's going to dilute the target share for the high target guys. Moving forward, when they are able to play more normal game scripts, I think we're going to see AJ Brown and Julio Jones get a significant share of the targets between them. And I think in the way that they're being used the talent that both of those guys have i think there's absolutely still room for both of them to be high-end fantasy contributors and like aj brown it was a bad game he had some drops there's no question about it i just went and watched all of his targets there were some bad ones he had at least two big plays

that he just dropped there was no no for it. He still had nine targets and 172 air yards in a game where Julio Jones had eight targets for an 128 yards. So no, I'm not worried about it at all. I still view AJ Brown as a top 10 wide receiver moving forward. How about the Vikings and the Titans are both top 10 and pass attempts so far. By the end of the night, they could be as low as top 12, I suppose, but they're usually bottom five. Minnesota was bottom six last year, with Tennessee's bottom

five four or five years in a row. So far, they're throwing the ball a lot, and that's a good thing, but you don't know if that's going to keep up. If it doesn't keep up and they still spread the targets around, then we could have a problem, but you've got to believe in A.J. Brown. He's just too damn good

and probably should have had a pretty big game as Chris just outlined. That is going to do it for our Monday edition of Fantasy Football today. Jacob, we hope to see you more upright next week, just like inching slowly, upright, more upright. Feel better, my man, and thank you for coming on.

That's Chris Towers, Jacob Gibbs. I am Adam Azer. We will talk to you tomorrow with The Waver Wire on Fantasy Football Today.